Caved* in and bought an android alcatel pixi 4.4 for £24. Not bad. I thought it would be useful to be able to send a photo to someone, say when on a trip and in a pub, a pint glass or something. Other than that, phone and text I've been content with. My digi camera packed in, well, a phone can be used as a camera I'm told! Take a funny photo and send it off to someone!

Whatsapp. Apparently I needed to get that. Now every ten minutes I am getting stupid photos sent even from my mother. Eleven apps now need software updates. Phone needs charging every day. Some pubs need personal info in order to link to internet.

I have got 56 photos I took inside the phone. I want to have them on my laptop. USB cable is slow and I can't copy/cut paste to c-drive, cuts off. Bluetooth transfer? Seems like my smart TV has that one but my laptop doesn't (sure I used to have it, probably deleted it as an unnecessary functionality).

JMN2 wrote:I have got 56 photos I took inside the phone. I want to have them on my laptop. USB cable is slow and I can't copy/cut paste to c-drive, cuts off. Bluetooth transfer? Seems like my smart TV has that one but my laptop doesn't (sure I used to have it, probably deleted it as an unnecessary functionality).

Yes, it's pretty common to get through a charge in a day, although I get three days out of my Microsoft Lumia smartphone (which is now a priceless antique, not. ) But then, I'm the sort of person who texts twice a month and who rarely uses more than 100 mb of data. What an old fart. I like my phone for the maps and the weather and the ability to get the BBC and FT websites, and nothing much else really. I probably make one call a month (generally to my wife from the supermarket), and I might receive three calls back

There are probably ways you can cut down on your memory usage, for instance by turning off Bluetooth. There ought to be some sort of a data monitor routine that can show you where your battery usage is going. It's unusual for a smartphone USB link-up to a computer to be slow. Mine is more than fast enough, using Windows Explorer.

Finally, may I congratulate you on having 56 photos you took inside your phone? Did you have to take the back off it first?

JMN2 wrote:Whatsapp. Apparently I needed to get that. Now every ten minutes I am getting stupid photos sent even from my mother. Eleven apps now need software updates. Phone needs charging every day. Some pubs need personal info in order to link to internet.

What on earth do you need Whatsapp for?

I use Dropbox on phone and PC to auto copy any photos taken with the phone, but only when I am connected with my own wifi.

Otherwise, if I want to send one to someone else (rare) I click on the photo and get a < but with blobs that lets me send it by a number of methods, including text and 2 types of email.

11 apps may need updating, but do you need the 11 apps working? Many apps that were inflicted on my phone have been deleted, or if I couldn't delete them, disabled and for the 4 I can't do that with, all permissions removed and never updated.

Yes the battery life is crap.

If I find I must use public wifi that wants personal information in order to link, I lie. Dwayne Dibley gets around quite a bit, though he is only 22 years old.

My sister insisted my mum and I installed Whatsapp, now I get loads of her (sister's) holiday photos from exotic places, while I sit in Slough pondering suicide.Battery life is never great with smartphones, but turning off cr&p like GPS and Wi-Fi until you need them helps. Living near a cell site is also useful

AleisterCrowley wrote:My sister insisted my mum and I installed Whatsapp, now I get loads of her (sister's) holiday photos from exotic places, while I sit in Slough pondering suicide.Battery life is never great with smartphones, but turning off cr&p like GPS and Wi-Fi until you need them helps. Living near a cell site is also useful

Attitude adjustment needed. Slough is an exotic place. Send her millions of photos of the locale, until she mends her ways, or begs you to uninstall Whatsapp.

AleisterCrowley wrote:My sister insisted my mum and I installed Whatsapp, now I get loads of her (sister's) holiday photos from exotic places, while I sit in Slough pondering suicide.Battery life is never great with smartphones, but turning off cr&p like GPS and Wi-Fi until you need them helps. Living near a cell site is also useful

Attitude adjustment needed. Slough is an exotic place. Send her millions of photos of the locale, until she mends her ways, or begs you to uninstall Whatsapp.

My sister used to send me endless photos and videos of her child learning to walk, to swim etc. One day I snapped and sent her a photo of my son hooked up to a life support machine.